


Nightmares

by MaximumSnow



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Genre: Also Linebeck says a single swear but I couldn't think of a way around it when he's an actual sailor, But you can read whatever relationship you want between Tetra and Link though, Gen, I want to emphasize that the relationship between Link and Linebeck is Platonic, Or familial, The first half of the story is very much a nightmare, There is a character death in the nightmare but it's not real, spoiler in the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27913657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaximumSnow/pseuds/MaximumSnow
Summary: Phantom Hourglass and Wind Waker end with Link fighting and defeating a man at the end, and sometimes nightmares don't like keeping the facts straight with how things actually went.
Relationships: Linebeck & Link (Legend of Zelda), Link & Tetra (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	Nightmares

It was raining. (It shouldn’t be raining.)

Link didn’t know when it had started, but when he woke up to Ciela’s pleas, the first thing he noticed was Linebeck swinging the Phantom Sword wildly around.

The cowardly man had _stabbed_ Bellum. For _him_. And was keeping the monster at bay while Link recovered. The memory and urgency of the situation drove Link to his feet.

Then Linebeck made an error no experienced swordsman would make and turned his head away from the enemy. To check on _Link._

Bellum took the easy opening and grabbed Linebeck’s arms. The horror that flashed on his face was replaced with determination as he struggled against the hold long enough to throw the sword to Link.

It was easy to catch it despite the haphazard way it had left the older man’s hands. But he was forced to watch as Bellum wrapped more tentacles around Linebeck and latched itself onto his back.

Dark energy flowed around them until thick phantom armor materialized on Linebeck’s body and forced him to stand up.

His face was tinted an unnatural purple (like a drowning man), and his eyes were glazed over with white.

Despite the almost dead appearance, he was able to wheeze out, “Link...”

A helmet appeared before he could say anything else, and with far more grace, the possessed Linebeck swung a heavy sword at Link.

The blow was easy to dodge, and Ciela was already shouting instructions at Link about how to deal with their problem.

After a few swings of the Phantom sword glancing off the armor with no effect, Link tried running and tumbling to get behind Bellum. But, no matter how fast he ran, the armored front would always face him in its inexorable march.

Finally, Ciela was able to let loose a Phantom Sphere, and Link stopped time long enough to run behind the large Phantom.

There was no weak spot to attack.

(There was no sign of Bellum’s body that should have been sticking out of Linebeck’s back.)

Ciela tried hovering behind Bellum to see if there would ever be a weak spot, and she was grabbed by a tentacle that was somehow still there.

The fight continued. (Different this time.)

No matter how many times he landed distracting blows and picked up and used Phantom Spheres, no eye ever opened.

He was getting tired.

Bellum wasn’t. (Bellum never did)

The large Phantom started another spin attack, and Link noticed just how unbalanced the helmet was when that attack was performed.

( _Oh goddesses, please no.)_

Another dodge, another parry.

He called on Neri’s aid to just help him get to the next spin attack. The blue fairy’s power coursed through him in time to block a would have been fatal blow from Bellum (Linebeck).

Their blades met time and time again. Just when Link thought he would never get another hit in, Bellum couldn’t recover quickly enough to avoid a cheap shot that knocked it to Linebeck’s knees.

Ciela took the opportunity to throw another Phantom Sphere at Link, and as soon as he caught it, Bellum stood back up. The way it grabbed the sword told him that it was about to do another spin attack, and Link prepared.

As soon as the attack started, Link stopped time and _ran_.

With a jump and a flourish, he slammed the helmet upwards and away from the Phantom’s head.

(Linebeck’s head)

Once again, the familiar face was exposed. Still with the purple hue and unseeing white eyes.

No sign of Bellum’s black and orange eye.

There was only one way Link knew how to finish it. But he couldn’t do that to his _friend._

(The same way he killed a man a year ago.)

Linebeck (Bellum) staggered as he lost his balance before fixing him with that dead stare and marched towards him.

(Was Linebeck even still in there?)

Link shook his head as he tried to repeat the process with other pieces of the armor.

Nothing worked.

He could faintly see the eyes on the tentacles near the joints, but even when he tried to stab them directly, it was like a forcefield would cover them and make the blade glance off.

He couldn’t keep this going. His arms and legs were burning with exhaustion, and his lungs were begging for a reprieve.

If he kept putting this off, he would die. And so would Tetra. And Ciela. And Neri and Leaf.

The realm of the Ocean King would be destroyed.

_(I’m sorry, Linebeck.)_

The last Phantom sphere pulsed as he activated it.

With ease, he took a running jump, and plunged the sword nearly to its hilt into Linebeck’s forehead.

( _How he killed Ganondorf_ _.)_

Link jumped away so that the heavy body didn’t crash onto him, but once he was on his feet again, he could only stare in horror as the armor turned into a purple mist with black and orange eyes staring at him. Mocking him. Before they inevitably exploded into bright yellow sand and fell into the water below.

It left the body of his friend face down on the driftwood.

He wasn’t moving.

Link stumbled towards the body left and collapsed to his knees near Linebeck’s head and tilted the face upwards.

Linebeck’s eyes were green again, but dull and unseeing. Bright red blood leaked out of the wound where the sword was still lodged.

He was dead.

( _I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorryI’msorryI’msorry.)_

Link didn’t know when he started to scream the words aloud, but when hands grabbed his shoulders, he shoved them away violently.

“Link!? Wake up!” Ciela’s voice sounded wrong, like it was mixed with someone else’s.

_(Tetra?)_

He stopped struggling, and the scene went dark as he realized his eyes were closed. He was laying down on something instead of standing on wooden planks.

His eyes shot open, and it took a few seconds to see in the faint candlelight. Tetra was hovering nearby, a worried look on her face and her hair in even more disarray than usual.

Link tried take a few calming breaths, and the fact that she didn’t comment on how he managed to choke on air must have meant he looked _bad._

“You were shouting.” The words lacked any of their usual bite and contained an unspoken question.

He rubbed at his face, which was noticeably wet, and tried to answer.

The image of a dead Linebeck, that he had killed, came back.

All that came out was a low whine that was cut off by a sob, and he curled his legs forward to bury his face into his knees.

With surprising care, Tetra approached him and sat down on his bunk nearby. “We’re on our ship. We just docked at an island for the night.” She looked at the door before continuing. “We’re all safe.”

Before he could respond, the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard accompanied by shouting. It spiked his heart rate briefly, before he recognized the voice.

“Hey, put me down!”

Relief. Link let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding, and tears threatened to fall again.

Gonzo kicked in the door, and slung over his shoulder was a very much alive, if annoyed, Linebeck.

“Captain’s orders, yeah?” He dropped the sailor onto the cabin floor before looking to Tetra.

Link didn’t pay mind to the silent conversation he knew they were having thanks to zeroing in on Linebeck. The sailor had a hand up brushing his hair out of his face, and that allowed Link to see that there was no injury marring his forehead.

He had figured out by now that it had to have been a nightmare, but he still couldn’t help checking.

Linebeck staggered to a standing position, and without his coat on, he looked even smaller than Gonzo. It didn’t stop him from pointing a finger at Gonzo’s chest and saying, “Just because I’m traveling with you doesn’t mean you can drag me out of my cabin and manhandle me like a dead fish!”

Gonzo just rolled his eyes before turning on his heel and leaving Linebeck without a response.

Linebeck was about to follow him out, offense written all over his face. “HEY! I wasn’t-”

“Read the room,” Tetra spoke up firmly. The lack of sarcasm and playful nicknames must have registered something in Linebeck’s head, for he quickly turned around, and the annoyance vanished.

Link vaguely wondered how pathetic he must look. Sure, Linebeck had seen him hit some lows at night when they traveled together in the Ocean King’s realm, but now he _knew_ just what Link was capable of.

Some legendary hero he was. Wrapped in a blanket with a wet face and faintly shaking in the aftereffects of a nightmare.

“Aw shit. You’re not okay, are you, kid?” Linebeck scratched his head as he asked. The rhetorical question hung in the air as neither teenager was willing to bother with the obvious answer. Waving it away, he took a few steps closer to the huddled mess.

He stopped and gave Link a pointed look that the boy recognized well. _Can I come closer?_

Link froze. The guilt of literally having just killed the man in his dream was telling him that he had no right to ask for the simple comfort that Linebeck somehow managed to give.

Just knowing he was alright should be enough.

It wasn’t.

While fighting to keep another sob down, Link nodded and scooted closer to Tetra. Permission given, Linebeck sat on Link’s other side, and Link instinctively leaned against him. He felt Linebeck’s arm carefully settle on his shoulders, and Tetra’s hand started to rub circles in his back.

The contact settled the racing feeling in his chest in a way their presences hadn’t been able to. The part of his mind still affected by the nightmare couldn’t ignore the fact that Linebeck was alive and breathing right next to him.

With little preamble, Linebeck started, “So, kid, did I tell you about that time I-”

Link couldn’t help but huff out a laugh at the unexpected topic change and met Tetra’s eyes in mutual sarcasm. Given how often Linebeck embellished his stories and changed them around for fun, Link probably hadn’t heard whatever nonsense he was about to spill.

But, just the segue had managed to stop fresh tears from falling, Link wasn’t going to say no to the obvious attempt to keep his mind off of the nightmare.

The first one hadn’t quite worked. The second nearly did. The third one managed to make him laugh so hard, that he rolled backwards and out of the mess of blankets. By the middle of the fourth story, his eyes were getting heavy, and he didn’t get to hear how that one ended. The sound of Linebeck’s storytelling voice and Tetra heckling every now and then lulled him to a deep sleep.

His dreams were blissfully blank.

**Author's Note:**

> I got possessed to write this idea after seeing how the fight with Ganondorf goes in Wind Waker, and thought "Wouldn't it be messed up if Link had actually had to kill Linebeck."
> 
> Then I felt bad and tried to find a way to make Link feel better, so here we are.


End file.
